


Narcissus

by areyoufr



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, i couldve done better with this plot im sorry, lake at the heart of the forest, lee chan is a fortune-teller, wonchan greek myth au, wonwoo is narcissus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 02:23:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18562012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyoufr/pseuds/areyoufr
Summary: Wonwoo sees something in the lake that he wants to see again.





	Narcissus

**Author's Note:**

> It's not accurate greek myth because I'm not much of a greek myth expert myself, so I'm sorry to disappoint.
> 
> but it's loving wonchan hours so

"Wonwoo, can you be a dear and get some food for your mother? She's hungry."

 

"I never hunt by morning, father. You could've just gotten mother a fish, you're a river god," Wonwoo complains, but he pushes himself off the ground to get his spear. "Or I could get them from your river myself-"

 

His father tells him a firm  _ no.  _

 

Wonwoo is used to that reply, for the past twenty-one years of his life he was forbidden to look straight into a body of water, or anything that would let him see his reflection. He doesn't need to, anyway, he had people in their town informing him of his looks. They say there's nothing wrong with his facial features. That claim is more evident when he hears of news about people liking him, or when he gets home with a dead animal's body to find several letters at their doorstep. But this has been going on for  _ years  _ \-- he already knows he's good-looking,  _ get over it. _

 

That is also the same reason why Wonwoo never preferred to hunt in the morning. The night is better, wherein Wonwoo watches a little bogus Seer set up his little fortune-telling business before he goes hunting. That bogus Seer never paid him any attention, and Wonwoo would smile secretly in both respect and amusement before heading off.

 

Anyway, he decides to check for a clear getaway first by the windows. The first thing he sees are faces -- faces turning to look at him, and expressions changing to a look of adoration. He scowls at them, realizing he would have a hard time going outside for a hunt today. He pulls the curtains back and bids goodbye to his father.

 

 

Wonwoo reaches the heart of the forest rather haphazardly. He has hoped he had scared the crowd of those unattractive, desperate excuse of a persons with his attempt at glaring. He had no idea if he was glaring, he had never seen himself anyways, but the people had made way for him eventually, and he ran as fast as he could in the forest in order to be lost in their sight. 

 

"Narcissus?" The voice of a nymph calls out. Her name is Hui. 

 

He turns around. Then it suddenly hits him -- Hui thinks they're into some secret relationship since Hui thinks Wonwoo "sneaks in the night to meet her."  _ Oh, right.  _ Wonwoo forces a smile at the fake name he had given to Hui, the nymph, and isn't surprised by the longing look on Hui's face. "Yes, Hui?"

 

"You came to see me in the morning." 

 

"I didn't. I was here to hunt." Wonwoo raised his spear.

 

"But you promised me, two moons ago, that you will come back."

 

Wonwoo sighs. He wants things to be different.

 

 

-

 

The story of Narcissus goes like this- he is extremely attractive, everyone admires his looks (romantic or not), he knows he's that charming, he never saw his reflection, he gets big-headed because of the reactions, he looks at everyone with contempt, and once he saw his looks on the lake, he is enticed by his own face that he plunges in the water to get closer- then he dies. 

 

Wonwoo scoffs upon hearing the so-called prophecy from some bogus with a crystal ball on the street (but for Wonwoo's case, the bogus hides the crystal ball with a rose-colored cloth). He came here to hide from a certain admirer, that nymph, anyway, not for an actual prediction. He tosses his payment, ignoring the way how the  _bogus_ accepts the payment rather hesitantly while looking at Wonwoo with careful eyes. Then this bogus' eyes shifts from him to the curtain. 

 

"I hope you're not to tell me that I do not need to pay with that, are you?" 

 

"Because you think you can pay with your face?"

 

"Can't I, bogus?"

 

"The name's Chan. And a face doesn't last, Narcissus, your face will age with you." The bogus shakes his head. "Just don't go to the lake when you hunt."

 

"I never go to the lake when I hunt," Wonwoo replies, recalling his father's reminders. "I prefer not to die because of myself."  
  
  


"You're not that pretty, good sir, Aphrodite exists."

 

Wonwoo slightly twitches. He's not yet used to this kind of treatment. 

 

"Well, I can be her equivalent." 

 

The crystal ball lights up from behind the rose-colored cloth. "Your nymph lover is gone, Narcissus. She is now heading back towards the forest." They both hear the town from outside the curtain- Wonwoo looks at it, and now that his time of hiding is up, he sighs, and looks back at the bogus, who looks at him with careful eyes. 

 

"Thank you, but your prophecy's bogus," he mutters before picking up his spear, this dead animal he caught, and stepping out of Chan's makeshift fortune-telling shack. Now that there were no customers again, Chan takes the rose-colored cloth from the crystal ball, and sighs. He never mentioned to Wonwoo that he knows Wonwoo watches him during the night sometimes. The person doesn't need to know.

 

He waits. It gets lonely without customers.

 

-

 

Wonwoo, however, is never lonely, especially when he has to wait for people to get off his back. 

 

Stepping out of that bogus -- Chan's -- little shack is like stepping into a war- the same ones his parents used to tell him about. The same ones told by gossipy commoners and nosy nymphs, the same ones the gods always brag about, the same ones Wonwoo tries to avoid. But his is a different kind of battle, the one he had to go through everyday before hunting. People turn their heads to look at him, some stare, some freeze, some whisper, and some _t_ _alk._ Wonwoo couldn't even hear himself breathe anymore. Of course everyday isn't as exaggerated, but being in a public place at daytime, Wonwoo is surely guaranteed to get some questions. 

 

"Narcissus," someone calls, "what type of people do you like? Satyrs? Humans?"

 

He doesn't answer.

 

"I can be anything you want."

 

"Then I want you to leave me alone." Wonwoo makes a disgusted face, too tired to mask his emotions, then continues to stare straight ahead, and he walks faster. He has no time for this. His mother is hungry and he just wants to feed her.  _Gods._ A silver tool passes by and Wonwoo shifts his eyes- _don't look_. You'll die. 

 

But he hears himself think,  _and you believed him?_  "Damn Chan,"he whispers unconsciously. The thought dies quickly when a person falls to their knees and looks at Wonwoo obsessively. 

 

His house is still several meters away, and his sandals are hurting his feet. The sun shines brightly, but Wonwoo is far from being 'bright,' and he just wants to be left alone. Away from these disgusting people who hold out their hands and crawl to his feet. His fox-like eyes are given with the most emotion it can receive, but to these people- to that nymph- they're  _nothing._ Someone offers him a ring and he throws it away.

 

He hears a gasp, and a cry. 

 

 _You're not that pretty, good sir_ , the voice echoes in his mind, and Wonwoo immediately apologizes for being rude. 

 

Narcissus is disgusted of people, that's how the stories go, and the interpretation is that it is because of his arrogance. But Wonwoo is far more reasonable than that. It's exhausting- watching them being so, so desperate for his attention. He can't move- _why did he pick a public place...?_   He absolutely _despised_ this side of town, at this time of the day.  If the nymph isn't on his back, there are crowds of people who can replace that.

 

"You're sweating," someone else points out, and holds out a bucket of water.  _Water- he can see his reflection with too much water._ He moves away by instinct, and sighs. When will he ever be alone?

 

Wonwoo confines himself in his house after that. The doors are always closed, the curtains are down, and his side of the home is dark. His father, the river god, dares not to ask anymore, and instead leaves him be, even if he sees a stoic-faced Wonwoo lie on the wooden table they use for dinner. His nymph mother, however, would tell him off to stop being emotionally self-centered and just get off the damn table (it had been a whole week!) so that they could eat. 

 

Narcissus is said to be self-centered. That is because he never really had what he wanted, and he tries to get it in every chance he gets. But then he remembers that _he is not that pretty_ \-- Wonwoo gets off the table. He can't get everything he wants.

 

His mother apologizes to him, and Wonwoo says it's okay. He spends the rest of his time, lying down and daydreaming about what he wanted the most at the moment. He wanted peace. 

 

A single sign of peace can hypnotize him enough and make him happy, he decides. And he looks at the ceiling of their home: unmoving, stable, and unpredictable, sometimes, if there are small creatures crawling. A moth passes by, as it is being followed by fox-like eyes. 

 

Wonwoo thinks it's peaceful.

 

He wanted forget about being pretty. He wanted to forget about looking for a difference. There are so, so many things here in life that Wonwoo feels like he had missed out on. He smiles at a ladybug that crawls on his finger. He watches the ants steal their leftover food. He sees a rose-colored cloth from his mother's new clothes, and he smiles too.

 

By the second week of confinement, Wonwoo receives letters. He grouchily pushes himself off the floor, and gets the letters- in parchment paper- from his mother's hands, who tended to the door. The ribbon is pulled and thrown away wherever, and he opens it to see Hui's familiar handwriting. He closes his eyes in annoyance.

 

He reopens them again to read.

 

 _My dear Narcissus--_ Wonwoo wants to vomit-- _I am worried for you for so long. You have not visited the forest yet for your hunt._

_Where are you, my love?  You never told me the place of your home. I am trying to find it by asking, but no one gives it to me out of greed. They want you for themselves. I want you for myself. I take care of you. I even hid the lake away from sight- the same lake in the heart of the forest._

_I treasure our small gatherings in the forest when you hunt._

 

Wonwoo tears the paper. He can't read this anymore. He isn't even  _that_ pretty -- his personality seems to ruin that image, and he wonders why Hui hasn't realized that. His face will age, too. He won't be looking like this for eternity.

 

"Don't hurt the nymph, Won."

 

Wonwoo forces a smile, but it doesn't come close to that. He is hoping for a difference.

 

 

-

 

 

Later on, that same day, Chan was just packing up his street store, having just finished his fortune-telling business. There weren't much things, but his crystal ball, cloak, curtains, rose-colored cloths, and the makeshift chair and table to complete the business set-up. It is already late in the night, and Chan just wants to take a rest. Creating accurate predictions, and wording them properly, are tedious tasks that people mostly overlook.

 

Chan isn't exactly born with the power- his prediction comes from training, but his grandmother, a true Oracle, the one with the true vision, had told him he's doing great. He takes those words to heart.

 

And that's what he stupidly said in front of people who are suspiciously in his area at that time of the night. People with weapons. People with glass bottles. People with adoration for Narcissus. They had asked him about Narcissus' visit to him the other day, or two weeks ago, rather.

 

"Uh," Chan can't think of a proper save. Obviously Narcissus must not want his prophecy to be made in public. "That's private."

 

"You're not a true Seer and  _yet_ you predicted Narcissus' destiny?"

 

"I have the skills-"

 

"Skills can do nothing when the damage is done." One of them steps closer and towers over him. "Narcissus isn't leaving his place for days, and he's a hunter."

 

"That's not my fault, good sir."

 

"How come he said, 'damn Chan?' then?" the same person who fell to their knees and looked and Wonwoo obsessively, asked. Chan flinches. 

 

"I have nothing to do with that, kind miss."

 

That is the story of how Chan ended up being dragged by five guys into the lake in the heart of the forest. He refuses to let go of his crystal ball. "No, please, don't get it away from me," he would cry out, but the hands are too forceful. One of them decides to let the ball stay with the boy, since it adds more weight. Chan gets scared and cries even louder.

 

His body is thrown into the water, and he feels the overwhelming cold of the water against his body. His clothing and crystal ball pulls him lower, and lower, but his arms reach up in an attempt to stay up. Someone pushes those hands repeatedly and forcefully until the oxygen is slowly out of his area and he drowns in the same lake Wonwoo avoids whenever he hunts.

 

 

-  
  
  


 

The next night, Wonwoo decides he's ready to go outside once again to hunt. He gets his spear, wears his sandals, and wears the most comfortable clothes he has, before stepping outside of the house to do what he liked doing the most. He wants peace-

 

-and he doesn't get it. There are people waiting for him, eyes and smiles ready, scaring Wonwoo to the bone, and so he runs, he runs to the forest. He shall get there quick. He passes by the public part of the town, but everyone's asleep. He notices that the the bogus' fortune-telling stand is gone, but he decides it's just for the night. 

 

But he sees it every night.

 

More cheers. The runs are faster.

 

He reaches at the forest.  _CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH--_ the sound of his sandals colliding with the ground--followed by heavy breaths. He is aware he is waking humans and creatures up, or maybe Hui, too--

 

No, not maybe. He  _did_ wake Hui up. Wonwoo runs, ignoring her calls, and he is going towards the lake. There is some sort of translucent barrier- some kind of magic- but Wonwoo screams and his spear pierces right through it, right through the barrier. He hears Hui's cry. Wonwoo sees the lake. He runs faster and crouches down.

 

He forgets to close his eyes when he is sitting face-to-face with the lake. 

 

At first, he sees himself. Fox-like eyes, messy hair, with lips in a thin line. 

 

His heart clenches. It's him. It's really him. It's _beautiful._ This moment is what he is secretly waiting for. He wonders then why his father chooses not to let him see his reflection- he doesn't understand, really, but damn it. Damn it all. What matters is that he sees himself. 

 

He crouches down, moving closer to the water, closer to himself, and his nose almost touches the cold of the surface.

 

But Wonwoo sees something in the lake that he wants to see again.

 

He sees a floating body with a cloak, with its hand grasping a crystal ball, he sees careful eyes fluttered shut. 

 

The crystal ball glows, and Wonwoo sees people heading towards the lake of the forest.

 

He is warned.

 

But he doesn't really care anymore.

 

The boy right here- gods. It took so long for Wonwoo to figure out. This is what he wanted. Not peace. He didn't want praise. He wanted to stay grounded. Chan kept him grounded. 

 

Narcissus throws himself onto the lake, with his spear, and connects his hands with the lone boy he had visited the other day. 

 

Wonwoo sees something in the lake that he wants to see again; and that is the difference that he was looking for this whole time.

 

 

 


End file.
